Cherry Lime Kañiwa Muffins

Hey friends! Hope you all eased into April and are enjoying warmer temps in your neck of the woods. I am frankly stunned at how fast the time has flown by since the beginning of March. Are you? I’m happy to report, though, that my past month has been full of fun and excitement, including:

Kañiwa. It’s pronounced kah-nyee-wah and it’s a pretty nifty little grain that I was introduced to by Roland Foods. I was sent a huge array of delicious Roland brand foods, including a package of this grain dubbed “baby quinoa”. It packs a nutritional punch stronger than its relative quinoa, even though it’s roughly a third of the size.

The dark brown grain is the Kañiwa and the white grain is Quinoa. See how small the Kañiwa is? One difference between kañiwa and Quinoa, aside from the obvious size, is that kañiwa doesn’t contain saponins, and Quinoa does. Saponins (what many refer to as simply “a toxic coating”) make it necessary to rinse quinoa before eating and therefore complicates its use. I’m not too versed in rinsing quinoa since the brand I typically purchase is pre-rinsed, but I imagine that it would be a gigantic pain in the fanny. Score one team kañiwa!

The cooking time is virtually identical to quinoa and you can most likely even cook them together — 1:2 ratio grain:boiling water, cover and simmer until all water is absorbed for about 15 minutes. Of course, you can find these cooking instructions on the package as well. The texture is, well, smaller but it’s similar to quinoa. It makes an outstanding breakfast cereal.

You can use the cooked kañiwa in a variety of ways. I opted to incorporate them into some lime flavored muffins with a tart cherry glaze — à la lemon poppyseed loaf. They are moist, fluffy and hovering just a little-but into cake territory with the nutritional powerhouse stats of kañiwa bringing them right back down to muffin land.

I have no idea what I just typed there. Can you tell it’s been a long month?

This is the first time I’ve heard of Kaniwa and looking at your muffins I must say that you made a fantastic job. This is a must try! I was thinking of frosting it with Vegan Chocolate “Buttercream” Frosting out of sweet potatoes. What can you say?

I love adding cooked whole grains into baked goods–it always adds a little something-something–and what a fun combo of flavors these muffins have! Kaniwa sounds great. I’m going to have to pick some up soon.

Thank you for sharing! I had no idea baby quinoa even existed, let alone it was so awesome. These muffins look magical…I hope that my local co-op gets some of this kaniwah, so I can try these out for myself! :)